PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2020. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use. date: 07 June 2020

Clarity

Clarity

Chapter:

(p.69)
Chapter 6 Clarity

Source:

On Custom in the Economy

Author(s):

Ekkehart Schlicht

Publisher:

Oxford University Press

DOI:10.1093/0198292244.003.0007

Rigidity refers to constancy over some range of conditions. Such rigidity is not accounted for by the adaptive view expounded in the preceding chapter. In this chapter, rigidity is traced to concept formation and learning. In order to transmit rules of custom, these rules must be perceived and learned. Clarity eases learning, and transmission is biased towards clarity. This restricts the continuum of possible rules to a somewhat discrete spectrum. At the same time, the clarity requirement induces context dependency: Each rule of custom builds on the other rules, and custom must be conceived as a system. Fundamental clarity properties are shared across cultures.

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PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2020. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use. date: 07 June 2020